Halon Alternative, A Shipboard Clean Agent Fire Protection Retrofit Experience

This paper will discuss the U.S. Army program to replace Halon 1301 fire suppression systems used onboard Army watercraft and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center's (Volpe Center) approach to the identification, research and testing, selection, design development, and installation of a prototype alternative system. The paper includes a review of the existing/emerging state-of-the-art technologies, an account of user acceptance of the new system, lessons learned, and possible future research needs.